The associated reading for this reflection can be found in your Every Sacred Sunday Mass journal or online here.
Recently, I drove by my family’s first house. It had been 25 years since my family moved to another house in a neighborhood across the city. It was actually hard for me to recognize anything, and it took me quite a while to find the house. The trees were so much taller, and memories of childhood can be fuzzy.
One spot that my memory had not distorted was the place where the driveway of my old house connected to the sidewalk. I still remembered that late afternoon where I begged to ride my bike in the rain. My mom said I was not allowed to go in the street because drivers in the road wouldn’t be able to see me. So I followed her instructions. When I turned from the driveway onto the sidewalk, my bike wheels slid across a puddle, and I crashed hard. After a long night at the ER and ten stitches, I had a scar on my chin for the rest of my life. My beard covers it these days, and every once in a while when I go clean shaven, everyone wants to know the story.
The cross is not like my hidden scar, or that spot at the end of the driveway that nobody but me remembers. The cross is at the forefront. In every Catholic Church, the cross serves as a memory of much greater pain than a bike wreck. It serves as a memory of a moment that a great mom did not try to prevent; a memory that the perfect Mother watched the whole way through.
The Cross serves as a memory, but it also serves as the present moment. When we see that Cross in our Church, it reminds us that we are right there in the Holy Mass. Yes, in a terrible moment—but also in a great one. It was in the hands of Moses that the serpent became the antidote. It is in the hands of God, Jesus Christ, that death becomes our salvation. And this is why we exalt the cross. This is why we go back to the worst memory in the history of the world. Because Christ saved us in that moment. And he saves us in this moment.
Fr. Christopher Meyer is the administrator at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Pattison, TX. He was ordained in June of 2022, and is still amazed every day to wake up as a priest of Jesus Christ. He loves hanging out with friends, the Rosary, sports, and reading. His favorite book is Island of the World by Michael D. O’Brien. Read it. It will change your life.
